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Best MacBook Air Prices

Daniel Knight - 2015.03.22

When the original 13.3″ MacBook Air was introduced in January 2008, it created a new category of notebooks that were neither underpowered netbooks nor overly heavy laptops. Things have only improved from that point, particularly with the introduction of the 11.6″ model in October 2010.

11-inch and 13-inch MacBook Air

Apple most recently updated the MacBook Air in March. Both models have the same 1.6 GHz Intel Core i5 CPU on the low end, a chip that can Turbo Boost to 2.7 GHz. For those who demand more power, there’s a 2.2 GHz Core i7 with Turbo Boost to 3.2 GHz for $150 more.

Standard memory is 4 GB, which is barely adequate for OS X 10.10 Yosemite. We recommend you spend the extra $100 for the 8 GB version, keeping in mind that you cannot upgrade system memory after the fact.

The base model has a skimpy 128 GB SSD, so you may want to consider the 256 GB version for $200 more. If you need a lot of space, there’s a $300 option to install a 512 GB SSD on the 256 GB model.

The Mid 2012 MacBook Airs were the first with USB 3.0 support. These were also the first Airs with FaceTime HD webcams. The base 11-incher has a 1.7 GHz Core i5 (2.6 GHz Turbo Boost), 4 GB RAM, and a paltry 64 GB SSD. For $100 more, the 128 GB SSD was a no brainer.

Apple added Thunderbolt to the MacBook Air with the Mid 2011 models, providing a huge throughput jump over USB 2.0. The 11″ version came with a 1.6 GHz Core i5 on the low end, while the 13-incher usually shipped with a 1.7 GHz i5. Both models had a 1.8 GHz Core i7 build-to-order option. OS X 10.7 Lion was the standard operating system.

This was the last time Apple offered an MBA with just 2 GB of RAM, and then only on the least expensive 11″ model. 4 GB is the maximum, so you probably don’t want to run OS X 10.10 Yosemite on this one, as it is very demanding of resources.

Pre-Thunderbolt Models

The Late 2010 MacBook Air was the first to move completely away from hard drives and exclusively to SSDs. These were also the first ones that could be ordered with 4 GB of RAM instead of the 2 GB default. These were also the last MBAs to use Intel Core 2 Duo CPUs: The brand new 11″ model had 1.4 and 1.6 GHz options, while the 13″ MBA came with 1.86 or 2.13 GHz chips.

Apple boosted screen resolution on the 13.3″ display to 1440 x 900, the standard resolution of the 15″ MacBook Pro. The 11.6″ machine has a 1366 x 768 pixel display.

These were the last to ship with OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard, which is a plus for anyone who needs to run older PowerPC-only software. It was also the last version of OS X to run decently with just 2 GB of RAM. Looking forward, 4 GB was the way to go.

The Late 2010 models can run OS X 10.10 Yosemite, but even with 4 GB, don’t expect sprightly performance. OS X 10.9 Mavericks is probably the furthest you’ll want to go with a 4 GB model.

Hard Drive/SSD Models

The Mid 2009 MacBook Air was the last to only ship in a 13″ version, and 2 GB of RAM was the only option. The base version has a 1.86 GHz Core 2 Duo CPU and a 120 GB UltraATA hard drive, while the better version ran a 2.13 GHz CPU and included a 128 GB UltraATA SSD.

This machine shipped with OS X 10.5 Leopard and can run everything since, although with only 2 GB of RAM anything beyond 10.6 Mountain Lion is not recommended.

The Late 2008 MacBook Air made a big step forward by adopting Nvidia GeForce 9400M graphics over the Intel Integrated Graphics of the original model. The 1.6 and 1.86 GHz Core 2 Duo CPUs have a larger data cache and a faster memory bus, giving them a 30-40% performance boost over the Early 2008 MBA. This is also the first MBA to use a SATA hard drive or SSD instead of the older, slower Parallel ATA.

The Early 2008 MacBook Air introduced Apple’s super-slim notebook to the world. It has 2 GB of RAM (not expandable), and that’s coupled with a 120 GB hard drive or a 128 GB solid state drive (SSD).

Apple made a lot of compromises to make the original MacBook Air as thin and light as possible: The Early 2008, Late 2008, and Mid 2009 models use a 1.8″ iPod hard drive. MacBook Airs have no RAM sockets, doesn’t include ethernet or FireWire ports, and the earliest models have only one USB port. On the plus side, the 13″ MBAs havew the same size screen and keyboard as the 13.3″ MacBook.

This model also shipped with OS X 10.5 Leopard and is a perfect candidate for the $19 upgrade to OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard, which only supports Intel Macs and thus uses a bit less drive space – a big factor on this little computer. Every MacBook Air, except for the original 2008 model, can run OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion, 10.9 Mavericks, and 10.10 Yosemite, but you’ll be a lot happier with 4 GB of system memory with anything newer than Snow Leopard